Why Quills are important
by jonh73
Summary: A discussion between three friends why quills are important. Along the way a few other issues crop up. How do they make Hermione understand she is different than a Muggle? What do quills have that pens don't?


"No, no, Hermione." Said an exasperated Harry. "That's not the reason we use quills!"

It was a late night in the common room with the three fourth-years lounging in the armchairs surrounding the fireplace. The fire having gone out for a long time, the embers glowing underneath the ashes of the logs. A few candles lit up, throwing shadows and reflections in the faces of the only three occupants in the common room. Hermione had just been interrupted in the middle of a long rant and the quiet droning seemed to go away as Harry finally started to talk.

"Hermione, you know I love you like a sister", started Harry "but sometimes you are completely blind."

"What are you talking about? The wizarding world is completely archaic. Look how they treat house-elves" exclaimed Hermione.

"Again with the house-elves" groaned Ron from the armchair he was sprawled on. Gathering his limbs, sitting upright and leaning forward he continued, "I thought we settled this already Hermione. Don't start with it again."

"Yes, okay we settled it. House-elves want to clean and live alongside wizarding families-"

"-because they don't know how to live alone and they gain magic, security and a home, exactly" continued Ron, butting in.

"But the house-elves don't have to be mistreated, Ron" she continued as if he hadn't said a word. "It's exactly that mistreatment that's a symptom with what's wrong with our world"

"Yes, you said, Hermione." Harry continued, "Many times, in fact, but the fact remains that you are wrong about quills."

"Why do you think that, Harry?" she said condescendingly.

"Because you don't know the real reason and you are building another conspiracy theory to suit your facts."

"Oh, here we go" said Ron.

"No, no let him say what he wants, but he can't deny that fountain pen and clean, crisp paper are much better than feathery quills and yellowed parchment" she insisted.

"But I can, Hermione" Harry said. "No, no listen you said I can say whatever I want, right?" he continued when he saw she was getting riled up and about to say something. "Right, now listen for a moment" he said waiting her to nod first and then continued "You say quills are feathery and hard to handle and they break off easy, right?"

"Yes, that's pretty much it" she said.

"Look, okay…no Ron don't just move your head, she needs to know these things. Imagine if she starts talking about this to strangers…"

"What, you think I'm going to embarrass you?" she asked not a little peeved by this point.

"Yes, Hermione, that's exactly it." He said sharply.

They were both leaning forward in their seats by now and gesturing with their hands. Ron was sitting straight in his seat and looking at them strangely. He was pretty sure he didn't want to get involved in this. While he was the one usually arguing with Hermione, their fights were frequent, but they were also over in a couple of days. When Harry fought with Hermione their fights could last for weeks easily. He remembered the Firebolt argument all too well. While he had a big part in that, he thought guiltily, he didn't want anything like that to happen again. Still he didn't want to take a side in this but he certainly didn't want them arguing about the stupid quills of all things.

"Maybe we should talk about something else" he started a little weakly "or maybe we should go to bed. We're the last ones down here."

"No, we should talk about this now" insisted Hermione "after all you don't want me to embarrass you now, do you?"

"Okay, I'm sorry for saying that" Harry quickly said, seeing the look on Ron's face "it's just a little frustrating to have to explain to you basic things, to you of all people!"

"Basic things? And what do you mean to me of all people?" she said. By this point Hermione's voice came over a little shrilly and she realized that. After obviously calming herself by taking a couple of breaths and staring at the floor she continued.

"Please explain to me these basic things, oh wiser one."

"Now you're just being sarcastic and argumentative. Come on, listen to me for a minute and then you can decide if I deserved the five minutes of your precious time, okay?"

"Yes, wise one. Whatever you say, sir." she continued sarcastically.

"Hermione, don't make me silence you. Please just listen." Harry said.

"You don't know the silencing charm, Harry, it's on the fifth year's curriculum." Hermione condescendingly said.

"_Silencio_. Happy now? Oh, you can't talk, right." he incanted with a sharp jab of his wand.

"Harry…" Ron decided to intervene at this point if wands were going to be drawn.

"No, relax, Ron. I'm going to end the spell in a minute. She just needed to be quiet for a minute for me to explain."

"You can't just silence her whenever you want, Harry." Ron continued, a little peeved "And while we're on the subject, how _do_ you know the silencing charm?"

"It's one of the most useful spells ever, Ron. I studied ahead." He answered a little wryly.

"We're getting off topic though. We started with quills, we went to Hermione's sarcastic streak and now we're on fifth year charms. Let me say this Hermione and we'll go to bed, okay?" he said watching Hermione mimic the signs his uncle Vernon made when he was particularly pissed off.

"Quills. We're on the subject of quills, okay? Now first of all quills are made of organic materials, namely bird's feathers, right? In contrast with fountain pens which are made of plastic or metal. Well, metal could be argued to be organic or rather natural but they're not made entirely of it. Never mind metal for now. Let's go with plastic pens. Now as you know already from the first classes we took, our wands are made of wood and parts of magical creatures and they're organic. They're made that way to better channel and focus magic forces, right?" he said while continuing to watch Hermione's reactions. Seeing her calm and nodding to his explanation he resumed his mini-lecture.

"Now, at that class Professor Flitwick also explained how organic materials are better for enchanting in general. This is the tricky part, pay attention. They're both good for _taking_ enchantments and for casting enchantments _through_ them. You know, like the old focus rings and the enchanted cloaks and stones. Remember the storied he told us of the great enchantments the old warlocks used to cast that are not the norm now?"

Hermione nodded along and even Ron was listening attentively. Even though Ron knew the point he was trying to make, he hadn't heard Flitwick explain it all back then.

"Quills. I've gotten off topic. Quills and of course parchment, also being natural, can be used to cast and have enchantments cast on them. You know a few simple charms we can cast on quills, right? Self-inking, Self-repairing, changing the color of the ink in it, and others similar."

"Don't forget the cursed quills that are around. Dad has destroyed a few of those in his work" Ron helpfully supplied. "There was one that burned the parchment you wrote on, there was the other one he said only wrote swear words and there are others.." here Ron started whispering as if he didn't want some imaginary eavesdropper to hear "…that can do serious mental damage…like make you forget how to write ever again, or read, or I don't know some other bizarre effect. Dad didn't like to talk about those. He said it's so horrible watching it, much less telling it to us what dark wizards can do to others…" he trailed off thinking back to when he saw his Dad ashen-faced in the Burrow's kitchen holding a mug of tea tightly and talking in hushed whispers to his mum and Bill.

"Yes, exactly." Harry continued trying to break Ron's sour mood by distracting him.

"I read about the kinds of enchantments you can cast through quills and there was a surprising number of thing you can do. Did you know there is a prison in France filled with poets who used to send each other cursed poems and sonnets that were carried in the words themselves? I mean they wrote a poem about the sea and the storms raging on it capsizing boats and whoever read it would drown on dry land, or feel an irresistible urge to go jump off a cliff overlooking the ocean during a rainstorm. Or something along those lines."

"Heh, lines, get it? Unintended pun but happy accident."

"I told you about the Sonnets of a Warlock, Harry, remember?" Ron said excited.

"Yes, exactly and you could only speak in limericks from then on." Harry said while looking at Hermione. She had her legs folded on the chair and listening as attentively as she ever had. She even looked like she forgot she had been silenced.

"Now, these are just a couple of examples of quills and their power. Imagine paint brushes and paintings and how depending on the subject they wanted to paint they used different brushes. Thestral hair for morose subjects and bowtruckle-guarded wood used for the handles of brushes that paint landscapes. There are so many examples of different foci, if only you know where to look for them and how to use them of course. And again I've drifted off topic a bit but the point remains, Hermione. These are serious reasons for the use of quills and parchment and not just because the wizarding world is archaic."

Now at this point the busy haired girl was just staring at the dying embers of the fire and thinking "Could I have been so wrong about it? Sure yes, I could have but I don't think I did."

She made a motion for Harry to release her from the spell.

"Are you sure you won't start ranting if I take the charm off?" he said a bit uncertain of his fate.

"Just do it already, Harry" Ron interjected. "She has the right to talk."

"It's not her right to talk I'm worried about, it's her right to hex me." The kid with the glasses said. "Will you promise not to hex me and to not start yelling?" he questioned her a little apprehensively.

She nodded quickly and with a wry grin at her face making them think she was not only sincere but a bit amused by his fear.

After a wave of his wand and a muttered incantation she could talk again.

"Okay, now I am going to talk and you are going to listen for a minute." She started quite calmly and reasonably.

"First of all it's very rude to silence me because you don't like what I'm saying." She said with a stern look on her face.

"I'm sorry abou- "

"Not finished, Harry." She interrupted him. "Now are you going to let me talk or am I going to have to punch you? You didn't say anything about punching." She said with a look in her face which promised pain.

After a couple of panicked glances both boys shut up and sat straight in their seats.

"Now, I can get past that considering you studied ahead on your own. Well done, Harry" she said watching him puff up in pride.

"You…you can be right about quills, I-I hadn't thought about it that way before. I didn't know about the magic you could cast through quills and you're right you can't cast that with fountain pens. But…but Harry, all those magicks you said about before sound…well…horrible. Curses to take away the ability to read of whomever reads a letter? Or those that drown you and, I assume similar other horrible effects… All of those sound like seriously Dark Magic. Why would you want to keep quills just for these?" she ended the question with a pleading and filled with pity look.

"Again, you're overlooking the other side of the argument. There are also good spells you can cast. Like animating drawings or several kids' spells that make parchment sparkle and shoot little stars…All of those little things and several others you can only do with quills. And not all kinds of quills either. I have a book from Pince that describes how different feathers from different birds affects the magic. You can borrow it when I'm done if you want" he said knowing full well that she was incapable of resisting a new book. Sure enough…

"Of course I want to borrow it, Harry…" she said with a bit of whining in her voice.

Ron chuckled and simply said "As if she wouldn't, Harry…"

"Don't laugh!"she snapped. "I don't make fun of you obsessively reading Quidditch Through The Ages so many times, do I?"

"I'm sorry Hermione, you know I don't mean anything of it." He answered.

"Now, can we please just settle this argument and go to bed?" Harry tiredly said.

"Wait, no!" Hermione was quick to say.

"Why would asking any of this to someone else embarrass you?" she said with a bit of a frown.

"Look, I'm sorry about that but… Have you noticed how Malfoy-"

"Malfoy! What has that snake anything to do with this?" Ron quickly exclaimed. "Even though he's not here he's making us argue… I always knew he was rotten but this much malice I wouldn't have thought him capable of spreading."

"Honestly, Ron how dramatic."Hermione said. "He isn't the reason we're arguing…and I don't like to call it an argument. We're just…discussing opposing views on the subject"

The boy with the red hair and even redder shirt snorted with so much force he almost choked.

"Ha, bloody ha…discussing opposing views indeed…Ha"

"Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted…" here Harry shot both of them a look, "Have you noticed how Malfoy animates the little doodles he tosses us? With his quill _and_ his wand. He uses both to make them good enough. Of course he doesn't have the talent to make them with the quill alone but…well…he is clearly good enough to make them, period."

"Well, Malfoy's doodles aside, I still haven't heard anything to convince me that quills are that necessary. So what if you can do a few little tricks? I can do ten times that with my wand." Hermione said thinking 'it's not very impressive, is it?'

Harry stood abruptly up and started pacing behind his armchair.

"You still don't get it! Hermione, I'll be blunt because at this point I want to go to bed and I'm pretty tired of this discussion. It is not your decision if quills and parchment are to be used in Hogwarts. With good reason may I add…" he muttered.

"What do you mean with good reason?" she asked indignantly.

"Here we go again…" Ron muttered. "Don't start with that, please!"

"Look Hermione all this little magic and tricks and… yes, even curses… these are the thing s that make us magical, make us wizards and witches, why most muggles think us creatures of fairytale and myth. We're not muggles with wands, we're wizards, the Wise, Those that See Beyond and all that crock." Harry starting ranting.

"So you admit that is crock." She said with the satisfaction of catching him in a lie or a trap.

"The titles are crock, yes. Well…mostly…"

"Mostly?" she asked.

"Let's not get into that now, shall we?" Ron said. "Let's just go to bed."

"You're right Ron, we will go to bed in a minute…Just please understand Hermione, that is what I wanted to talk to you about…Your insistence to think that muggles are the same as us."

"Harry how can you say that?" she exclaimed. "You sound like Malfoy!" Even Ron looked at him weirdly.

"I'm not saying muggles are inferior or that they should be exterminated, Hermione! All I'm saying is that they are different. And I would thank you not to compare me to Malfoy!" Harry said sounding quite mad. "Surely you can understand all these little things we can do without a wand, the wandless little tricks everyone can do…well….every wizard or witch…these are the things that separate us from muggles. Even if we lost our wands or left them without using them- even though I can't imagine who or why someone would do such a thing- we would still be wizards and magical creatures." He pleaded with her to understand, to try and see it from his point of view…

"Well, yes we would still be wizards and witches but the differences are not enough to excuse the discrimination and prejudice against muggles that people like Malfoy throw around" she said knowing that at least in this she was right.

"Of course it doesn't, Hermione! You know I would never suggest such a thing!" he said coming closer to her. "Your parents and, god help me…my relatives are human just the same as us." he said kneeling in front of her armchair and looking in her eyes to show her his conviction. "But as much as I know you love your parents you have to accept that you are different than them." He said softly.

"He is right, Hermione" Ron suddenly said. "you know my family is considered blood traitors by the rest of the purebloods but even we know we are not muggles with wands. We are different. We are…Fey."

"I-I know." She choked a sob. "I've noticed already…Oh am I a terrible daughter? This summer I listened to my parents talk about things so trivial and banal that I was bored to tears. Am I a terrible dau-"

"No, don't ever think that Hermione!" Ron cried out. "I-I'm sure you love your parents. And they love you." He said simply.

"Oh, Ron!" she said and threw her hands around his neck. "Thank you for that. Even though you don't know them, thank you for trying to cheer me up."

"Eh, it's okay Hermione" he said while awkwardly patting her back and throwing helpless glances to the other boy still kneeling to the floor. "It's okay, we're here for you."

Finally, the other boy stood from his spot on the floor and joined them in the hug.

"Yes Hermione, we're here for you, even though you don't like quills!" he said jokingly trying to lighten the mood.

"Pillock!" she said as she extracted herself from the embrace. If there was more light than a few sputtering candles and dying embers in the fireplace they would have seen a blush going up her neck and cheeks.

"Now, let's go to bed, it's a big day tomorrow. Professor McGonagall said she is going to show us how to turn blocks of wood into useful furniture and the like." Hermione said surreptitiously wiping her eyes with the end of her sleeve as she turned around.

"Yes, yes, furniture" they grumbled.

"Goodnight, Hermione!" they said as they turned to go up the stairs to their dorm room.

"Goodnight boys!" she shouted from across the room, going up the stairs to her own bed.

"Oh and Hermione…" Harry turned around and said.

"Yes…?"

"I meant what I said before…about being here for you." He said quietly.

"I know Harry and you know I'm always here for you." She said equally quietly. "Now off to bed, Harry, long day tomorrow."

"Night"

The End


End file.
